Just Pretend to Listen, Even if You Can't
by mutietootie
Summary: Kariya reflects on his life choices by talking to a corpse. A corpse that looked very much like his own.


There he was, little Neku, bleeding out in front of the mural he had devoted his inspiration to.

The other two who previously accompanied him, the Composer and Mr. Math Puns, were far on their way now, shots ringing in his ears, followed by a vertical stream of far away blue light and a scream of annoyed agony. Leave it to the big daddy-o to up and leave before finishing a fight.

Kariya turned his attention to the boy, laying in his own pool of blood, a few breaths alerting him that the body was still pulling him through the last dregs of what he could call life. He was probably at the point of which he couldn't hear anymore, couldn't see anymore, but still had the willpower to stay alive, just for the fact he wanted to be living. The older man tisked, wet his shoes in the slowly growing pool just beside his head, forced his Frequency to drop just enough for him to be tangible in the RG, reached out, brushed his bangs, felt around his ears, and snapped his neck.

He died instantly. No final breath, no last word, nothing.

It was better this way.

He clipped the pin laying on his chest in one of the large folds of his collar, one of the few places on the kid's (horrendous) outfit that was completely out of view and fully protected, and stood to brush himself off. At least he was on his way to the Game now, the Reaper thought. It was time for him to get to work.

The blood was cleaned up with just a flick of the wrist, (the wrist holding the Aqua Pawn, that was) and the corpse was patched up, head straightened, bullet wound covered, blood without flow. Laying on the rail up the Udagawa steps, positioned so the boy feigned sleep, dark circles providing reason to his supposed collapse to passers by. Kariya sat on the step just below, still in the RG, posing as a concerned friend, holding a finger to his mouth at strange looks, whispering to those who asked.

"Big test today. Pulled an all-nighter."

"He's an insomniac, we're lucky he's sleeping at all right now."

"Narcolepsy, he'll be up and at 'em in 20 minutes or so."

"Move him? No way! He's a super light sleeper, leave him for a bit, just this once. I'll wake him up in half an hour, tops."

They remained there for hours on end, until the surrounding store's lights went out, until the street lamps and neon lights were the only illumination through the smog of Shibuya, until the only people about were night-shifters and drunkards, until he was sure Neku was in the queue to be let into the Game of the week. That was when he slipped the body onto his back, and made off.

They ended up on the rooftop of the big Ten-Four, city winds tousling the hairs on Kariya's head and ruffling Neku's clothes. He had laid the unmoving boy on the concrete acting as ground, and moved to sit beside him, eyes behind shades drawn to his face. He ran his fingers through the orange bangs, roughing up the gelled spikes, retreating his sticky hand after a good minute of smoothing. That was when he began to speak.

"What a predicament you've got yourself into, kid. Shot in the heart by one of the most powerful beings in Tokyo. Not that you would know, of course. I'm not even supposed to know that."

He huffed, "Oh man, talking to a corpse. The big guys are probably in a laughing fit right about now. That's what they get for not hiring a wall reaper to to the dirty work." Eyes peered over shades to stare at the kid's closed lids. "...'Motivation,' they called it." Heh. Like he had any of that anymore. "Want me to quit being a Harrier, live the high life instead. But," he sighed. "Too much work for me, and what could I do without Miss Pink? A plus partner right there, why throw her to the dogs? Heh, and she's not nearly experienced enough to even work the field without me."

A few moments of inactivity passed, neither of the two needing to breathe, the only sound being the clash of car honks and chattering from the streets far below. He decided to let his one-sided conversation continue.

"I've been watchin' ya for a while now, y'know? Your Soul there is pretty impressive. Always has been. The higher-ups requested a little watch over ya, even. Just to pop in every once and a while, make a check up, see if you were anywhere close to getting into a Game. Lucky for you, you've got gusto for living, nothing as silly as an accident or falling out could kill such a Soul."

He ruffled the orange locks even more. Then, with a sudden bout of inspiration, he took the boy's head in his lap and slicked his bangs back. He softly smiled. "Just like me, kid. Just like me…"

...More like him than he thought. After all… maybe he should tell him. Now is the prime time, while the kid is dead on the concrete and couldn't hear what he needed to get off his chest more than ever at that moment.

"...Y'know kid, there was a reason the big guys up front chose me ta look after you." He let the bangs fall back into their original spiked (and now _very_ messy) place.

"You an' me are of blood." He pretended to see a look of shock slide onto the dead boy's face. "'S true! Woulda been your uncle!" His hands maneuvered to hover over Neku's face. "See? Same nose," he tweaked the boy's to prove his point. "Our hair's pretty similar too, exact same texture, but Mother Dearest must've been on the darker side, huh?" He looked away. His hands went back to petting the kid's hair. "Now don't go remembering that, you don't know me, for all you know." He let out a small chuckle.

Silence fell upon them as Kariya watched the night sky above him, brightened by the lights of Shibuya's nightlife and the transparent ribbons of the Soul bringing the city to an energized high. He continued, not feeling like he wanted to end his one and only chance to say the words aloud. "Yer dad was a sweet kid, cherry-cheeked and reeking of sugar, or, least he was, when I knew him. You have to have gimmie an update on his whereabouts, kid, haven't seen him in your place for a couple years," He paused. "or… was it decades? I dunno, time flies fast when ya don't have to worry 'bout it." He looked to Neku, half expecting a frown to appear on that motionless mouth of his. From what he had observed, his brother had not gotten along well with his sister-in-law or his nephew.

He decided to drop the subject. "Eh, no matter. My brother's probably forgotten 'bout me by now, had bigger worries than a missing brother he barely knew." He pulled the lolly out of his mouth with a loud snapping 'pop.' "A shame I died before I could do anything for him…"

Kariya closed his eyes and let the city winds brush through his hair. The chill of the night was only getting stronger and he had a while to wait to do what was requested of him. Might as well chase the silence away.

"Hey kid, ya wanna hear a story?"


End file.
